Oh my gosh, I just took my first 40 mg of Claravis this morning!! This is crazy!!

Hmm. I guess I should say a little bit about myself and my back story? I'm Leah, and I'm 19....just about to start my second year of college. I've seriously had acne since I was about 11 and I'm so tired of it. Right now, I don't get acne consistently, I will be fairly clear for a while and then randomly get this HUGE breakout which leaves nasty marks/scars that won't go away. I've been visiting a dermatologist since I was 13, and tried tons of topical creams and stuff, which helped, but never really made it go away.

I was first suggested to take accutane when I was about 16, but at the time, there was no way we could afford it. Every time I would go in for my dermatologist visit, he would recommend it to my mom who was with me, and she would have to say no, because we have not had health insurance for quite a while.

Fast forward to a couple months ago, when I set up my first dermatologist visit in about 2 years with a different doctor. I'm uninsured and had no clue how expensive accutane would be, but I had been researching it like crazy and really wanted to talk to him about it. The first thing he said when he looked at my face was, "Have you ever considered accutane?" and I was like, "Heck Yes!" So I didn't even have to try and convince him. I didn't really have any active breakouts at the time of my appointment, but he could see the marks that previous acne had left and wanted to stop it in its tracks before it left a lot of permanent scarring.

So, I just took my first pill this morning...I'm starting on 40 mg for now, and might get bumped up to 60 mg later. I'm 5'4" and weigh about 117 pounds. So this, I guess, is the start of my crazy journey of taking accutane and working my butt off to pay for it without health insurance!

Haha...yeah, I know that the amount of money I'm paying is INSANE...but it's worth it to me.
And I already started moisturizing this morning...I've been super paranoid and checking my face all day to see what it looks like!

Day Four! I haven't posted the last couple days because I haven't seen any side effects or anything...no dry skin or lips...I pretty much feel the same as always.

I did unfortunately get some huge sick nasty whitehead on the side of my nose today, that was fun. Hopefully that's not the start of something more. Ew. Plus I work at a daycare, so I was paranoid all day that the kids in my class would be asking me "what is that on your face?" That's always fun.

Also, I was going to ask...I heard you're supposed to take your pill with a fatty meal...I usually don't remember to take medicine if it's not first thing in the morning, so I've been taking it with breakfast, usually just cereal with milk...does the milk make it fatty enough? Or will my pill not absorb right? I don't really know.

Also, I was going to ask...I heard you're supposed to take your pill with a fatty meal...I usually don't remember to take medicine if it's not first thing in the morning, so I've been taking it with breakfast, usually just cereal with milk...does the milk make it fatty enough? Or will my pill not absorb right? I don't really know.

I believe the only important thing is to NOT have an empty stomach when taking the pill.